La Cosa Nostra
by Vii Zee
Summary: AU where the Clones have formed a sort of Mafia-like Initiative to keep themselves and those around them safe.


A quick rap on the door. A small window slides open in the metal frame and two eyes – so like her own – peek through it.

"Password."

She rolled her eyes (she hated all this stupid password crap). She's about to protest, opens her mouth to say what she thinks about it, but the voice behind the metal snaps back.

"_Password_."

She sighs at the voice and whispers.

"Orphan."

She hates that password.

The door's pushed open.

-0-

"Look who's finally joined the party," Sarah grins toothily as Alison walks past her, through the narrow corridor and straight into the back room where they always meet. Everyone else is already there – Beth is sitting on the arm of the recliner, her legs crossed at the ankle and her arms buried neatly in her pockets. Cosima is right next to her, legs draped over the armrest behind Beth, one hand tangled in her hair as she absent-mindedly twists at her dreads. Sarah takes her place on the table, ignoring the small box of guns and knives right next to her. Alison sits on the other armchair, smiling at Beth and Cosima, ducking her head slightly in a nod.

"Right, everyone's here," Sarah speaks, and everyone darts their eyes to her. It's so strange, her intonation and voice in their environment. They rarely ever hear anything like it.

"Well, what is it you want to talk about?" Alison asks, and Sarah has to fight the urge, just a little, to slap her for her haughty tone.

"Katja's dead," she blurts out. No warning, no facial expression, nothing. She just says it so quickly and abruptly that at first it doesn't register with her companions.

And then it suddenly does.

"Define…dead," Cosima blurts out, and Sarah rolls her eyes.

"Dead as in not breathing, as in her body's been chucked somewhere and we can't get at it."

"What happened?!" Alison screams, and Sarah jerks forward a little bit, almost as if she is going to slap her.

"Calm down, alright? She got shot in the head, somebody took her out from my car when she came to meet me to give me the briefcase."

"Are you serious?" Beth asks, and even she has to show a little bit of emotion in her voice, despite the deadening everyone notices in her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Did you get the briefcase?" Cosima asks, swinging her legs off the armrest and down the floor, expertly avoiding Beth's head as she does that, getting up as fast as lightning and walking half way up to Sarah. "It's-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's important. I know," Sarah blurts out, putting her hands out in a sort of defensive manner. "I got it, it's just back at my place with Felix."

"You left it with Felix?" Alison yells again. Unbelievable. "Why didn't you bring it with you?"

"Because I want to know what's in it, alright? I deserve to know!" Sarah yells back, silencing Alison for a few brief seconds – which is really what she wants. "You three have had me on a wild goose chase ever since you met me months ago and I don't even know what it is I'm chasing!" She turns to Beth, but Beth isn't even looking at her, she's studying the floor. She turns her eyes to Cosima instead, who shrugs slightly and crosses her arms, standing in that slightly awkward askew way that she always lets her posture drift to.

"Sarah…"

"Don't Sarah me, Cos," she growls, getting off the table and in one quick stride, is nose to nose with an almost-exact copy of her. It's like watching her square up to her own reflection.

"I want to know, alright? I showed up months ago in this city, no clue what I was going to do to get money, and I bump into an exact replica of me who tells me that I need to trust her, that everything's going to be alright, and I'm expected to believe her? I'm expected to just play along?"

"Well, you kind of did," Alison mumbles.

"I heard that!" Sarah yells back at her, not breaking a beat in her speech at all. "You promised me money and answers and insurance that my family would be safe. I've seen none of that so far!"

"Has Felix been hurt? Or Kira?" Beth asks coldly, and Sarah actually stops to stare at her, mouth gaping open slightly.

"No, but-"

"Have we not promised you money if you give us the briefcase, and also answers?"

"Yeah."

"Then be quiet and stop being the antagonist," she almost whispered, but the effect was instant. Sarah's shoulders hunched down, visibly calmer now, and Cosima tentatively put her arms on Sarah's arms, making her look her right in the eyes.

"The briefcase, and you get your answers. I promise."

For a minute, Alison thought Sarah was going to actually hug Cosima, but they'd known each other long enough to know Sarah didn't do emotions, unless it had anything to do with Kira. She shrugged her twin's hands off and walked back to the table, sliding back onto it.

"Now tell us what happened," Beth prompts her, and Sarah takes a deep breath before beginning her story.

-0-

"And that's how the German was shot in the head in the car on the way here."

Beth was pacing up and down the room; slowly, but still a nervous pace. Alison had her head buried deep in her hands, breathing deeply and trying to make sense of everything. Cosima was just staring at Sarah, the cogs and gears in her head visibly turning.

"Where's the body?" Beth asked, breaking the momentary, heavy silence.

"Buried, empty plot."

"Where?"

"About three miles out of town, near a forest."

"That's no good, they're gonna construct over there starting Monday. We need to move the body."

"To where?" Sarah was getting more and more exasperated; it was hard to watch her when Beth was so calm and cool and systematic…

"Somewhere where we can get to it without it being disturbed," Beth stopped half way to a wall, turned her eyes to Sarah, and frowned slightly. "Or discovered."

"We'll go tonight when less people are likely to see us," Alison piped up, and Beth nodded quickly in agreement, shaking a solitary hand at her to show her support as she resumed her slow trail.

Cosima was lost in her own thoughts, tapping a finger at the side of her head as she tried to make sense of everything jumbling around in there, trying to fish out the important things… Sarah liked her, she didn't beat around the bush and she was good at what she did. Now if only they could get somewhere with letting her into the loop…

"The briefcase is where?"

"What is your obsession with this briefcase anyways?" Sarah asked her, cocking her head to one side. Yeah, she liked her, but she wasn't going to admit it.

"It could help all of us live just a little longer if we knew."

"What, are we sick or something?"

Sarah didn't like the way her joke was received as Cosima looked her right in the eyes and cocked her head to the side too, unconsciously imitating her.

"Possibly."

-0-

"Cosima, what are you doing?"

"I need blood samples from everyone, now hold still."

"Do you really have to do this?"

"Do you want me to save your life? Yeah? Then stop struggling and let me apply this tourniquet. Clench and unclench your fist. Keep doing that for a bit, I need to find that vein. So, tell me about Kira."

"What do you want to know?"

"Anything. She's your daughter, right?"

"Yeah but I haven't been a very good mum."

"It's cool, most parents aren't good parents. My dad left us when I was two, I don't remember him. Just me and mom for a lot of the time."

"Kira is everything to me. More than Mrs S and more than Felix sometimes. She's perfect and I wish I was brave enough to stay but I had to leave or I would never have looked after her properly."

"Do you know who the dad is?"

"Yeah but I don't want to talk to him. I want to just, forget about that life. Move on and get out of here, go back to the UK with Kira and Felix, I don't-"

"Done!"

"Wow, that was quick…"

-0-

Sarah didn't know much, but what she knew she treasured.

She knew that Beth was a police officer and that's where they managed to get all their intel from, for the most part.

She knew that Cosima was a scientist and that she could help. A lot.

She knew they all looked alike.

She knew someone was killing them off.

The rest was shrouded in shadow, and though she felt safe around shadows, this wasn't something she was comfortable with. The way they looked at each other, talked to each other, sometimes even the way they were so cautious about moving around each other. It was daunting, especially when it involved her so much.

She knew that, however, they did trust her. Enough to give her a gun, even.

-0-

"Are you gonna finally tell me what this is all about?" Sarah asked as she slammed the briefcase onto the table. Cosima winced – please let none of that precious cargo be harmed please please – and Beth and Alison exchanged a quick look, nodding at each other.

"OK, we'll tell you. Sit down, this may take a while."

And they told her. Clones, experimentation, possible spies, nurture versus nature, no original, possible genetic illness, someone killing them off.

When they finished, a brief silence fell. Before Sarah could open her mouth to speak, Cosima had pushed a glass of Bourbon at her, and she sipped from it, trying to dull the pounding in her head.

"Clones."

"Yup."

"Experimental clones."

"Yes."

"Who's killing us off?"

"We don't know," Beth shrugged, "and that's my job to find out."

Sarah sighed, downing the glass in one go and putting one hand to her temple, pressing lightly. This was all so confusing…

"It's a lot to take in, but if you have any questions, just ask, OK?"

She nodded, getting up and walking to the door, not saying a word as she shrugged on her jacket and left the room to walk the streets and maybe think a little about it all on her own.

-0-

Days passed before they met again, and as always, Sarah was the one to call it. When the other three arrived, she forced them to sit and, after pouring each of them a drink, she leaned back and spread her arms.

"So, what is this whole deal? With meeting in a little room and all this talk about insurance and money and safety. I want to know everything."

Cosima and Alison looked at Beth. Sarah knew that everything would come from her, the apparent ring leader. Beth looked at her hands before sighing heavily and looking back up at Sarah.

"Alright. Here's the deal. When Katja approached us, she told us that she needed protection. We spent ages trying to hide her from whoever was trying to kill her, and then Cosima came up with this brilliant idea." Beth gave the mentioned clone a sideways glance, and Cosima shrugged.

"Just something I read about back in high school. They call themselves La Cosa Nostra-"

"What, the Mafia?!" Sarah asked, suddenly not really wanting a part of this. She'd dealt with enough crime to last her a life time in the past year!

"Well, kind of. We're like them," Beth said, trying to calm her down. "It's easy. La Cosa Nostra – Our Thing. Our Righteous Cause. In exchange for loyalty and information, we keep you safe. And those you love safe too."

"How do you pull that off?"

"Well, Alison contributes the money. I've got the police on my side. Cosima runs a bit of dirty money-"

"Drugs, narcotics, weed, that kind of thing."

"We got this place as a small safe house, and in exchange for everyone helping out and pulling their weight with the operation to try and find out who killed us and where we came from, we make sure that your loved ones stay safe."

"And that's a promise?"

Beth looked Sarah dead in the eyes and nodded, once.

"As long as you keep your end of the bargain."

-0-

Beth told Sarah that she needed her to help out in any way she could. At the moment, that meant being the muscle of the group. They all trusted her enough to let her be their bodyguard, and whenever they felt particularly unsafe, they simply asked her to tag along.

She actually grew fond of doing this, and took the opportunity to learn more about her new found companions as she did.

She learnt that when Cosima was eighteen, she slept with a woman for the first time and never looked back since. The one person she was protecting? A French woman by the name of Delphine, who could possibly be in as much danger as they were if her employers found out she was helping the clones rather than simply 'observing', as her job was supposed to be.

She learnt that Alison couldn't have kids, and that she wasn't really that happy with her husband. But she did have two adopted kids, and she'd do anything just to make sure they didn't get sucked into her crazy world with her.

She learnt that Beth only had one person to look after, and that was Paul. She didn't talk much about anything else, just kept quiet in general and made sure that Sarah kept in line. When she asked the others about Paul, Sarah got answers such as 'We don't really talk about him' or 'Paul's not to be trusted'.

You know, normal things.

-0-

"So when do you intend on getting this PhD of yours?"

"Sometime next year, hopefully. I've got to write up my dissertation, and that still needs to get approved."

"What, then you'll be Dr Cosima?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"And you'll give up this whole drug pedaling thing to get money for the Cosa Nostra or whatever?"

Cosima shrugged, looking at the floor. "Maybe? I dunno. Once this whole thing blows over, once we find out who's killing us, then we can give up this whole protection thing. You know, it was a joke when I suggested it, but Beth loved the idea so we just…went with it."

Eyes forward, Sarah was about to answer, when she saw a small flicker in her vision. She stopped, staring as somebody who looked suspiciously like Beth – or was it another god damn clone they knew nothing about? – crossed the streets and ran into an alley.

"Cos, whatever you do, be quiet. Let's go."

They followed her footsteps in the snow, staying at the edge of the alley, watching as Beth cornered a hooded figure, pushed her against the wall, fists clenching around her collar.

"What's she saying?"

"Ssh."

They couldn't hear, but Sarah was pretty sure she was threatening the woman under the hood (she was definitely a woman) and for a moment she thought she saw her mouth 'You can have them, but don't touch me' before she let the woman go and walked away.

The hood fell and revealed a blonde woman, large red eyes scared, face sallow and recognizable.

"Shit, man."

Sarah didn't bother telling Cosima to shush this time.

-0-

"Where's Alison?"

Beth was quiet as Sarah and Cosima sat with her in their safe room, Cosima holding something tightly in her jacket pocket (probably a wad of money she was going to handle over to Beth), Sarah sensing the charge in the air. A very unfriendly charge, at that.

"Alison was killed."

"What?!"

"How?"

"I found her dead in her house, her kids where at school. Looked like a bit of a struggle, hit really hard in the head."

Sarah felt the bile creeping up her throat and she swallowed it down, putting a hand to her head and screwing her eyes shut. "Shit."

"You got that right."

Sarah looked up at Beth again, staring her right in the eyes. "Any idea who did this to her?"

She saw a flicker in Beth's eyes before she hung her head and shook it once. "We're working on it."

-0-

Sarah didn't believe it for a second. She didn't believe that Beth didn't know, and the more she thought about it, the more she felt like maybe they had been sold out. Beth's protection, in exchange for her genetic identicals dying. As long as she was safe.

Cosima had already told Sarah that Beth was on a downward spiral anyways. Could this have been her attempt at trying to regain normal? Get rid of her clones and she can go back to her normal life with Paul in a nice town house with a good job and a good life.

How anything could go back to normal after this was beyond her though.

"Beth."

Beth turned around, a hand to her chest as her eyes widened. "Jesus, Sarah, don't sneak up on me."

"Sorry, I thought you heard me come in."

"No. You OK? Need something?"

"Just to talk to you," Sarah muttered, feeling her muscles tighten already in preparation for what could possibly be a fight.

"Yeah, sure." Beth sat down, looking up at Sarah and raising an eyebrow. "What's up?"

She didn't know where to start, so she went for the most obvious question.

"Who's that blonde that you were talking to a few days back?"

"I don't know-"

"Cut the act, Cosima and I saw you."

Beth stared at her for a while, a hand slowly moving to her hip, thinking that Sarah didn't notice.

But she did.

In one swift movement, Sarah had grabbed Beth's hand, twisted it around and grabbed the gun herself, pointing the barrel into the side of Beth's head, holding her down on the ratty armchair.

"Tell me who she is."

"Sarah-"

"Tell me, Sarah, god damn it!"

Beth's eyes were wider than she had ever seen them, and she could see the swear forming on her brow, trickling down to meet the barrel of the gun. Sarah licked her lips and tightened her hold on Beth.

It was like pointing the gun at yourself.

"Tell me, Beth, or I swear to God."

"Sarah you have to understand."

"Understand what?"

"I never wanted any of this."

She laughed, short and cold. "Yeah, neither of us did. And now look what you did. You murdered Alison!"

"I didn't kill her!"

"You might as well have. You gave us up, didn't you? So that you'd be safe, so that this psycho clone wouldn't hurt you and your precious Paul. So that you can go back to normal and get rid of this burden on you, eh?"

"Sarah, try and understand."

That was the problem. She did understand. She would probably have done the same thing. But she wasn't about to let that thought distract her from what was really important.

"You promised you'd keep us safe," where the last words she said before she got up off her and walked a few paces back. She lowered the gun and Beth relaxed, smiling at her.

She shot her in the head.

-0-

"Cosima?"

"Yeah?"

"Beth's dead."

"What? What happened?! Are we dropping like flies or something?"

Sarah stood in the cold night air, her free hand buried in her coat pockets and the other hold her cellphone to her ear. It would take forever to get the stench of blood out of her nose.

"She topped herself."

"Woah… Know why?"

"I've got a pretty good idea." She hung up, and as she looked up at the sky she felt like maybe she was no better than Beth had been.

But she needed security, and that was what La Cosa Nostra was about anyways.


End file.
